22 Container Gardens That Will Make You Want to Start Gardening
Real Simple Author
A potted salad garden
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
To grow vegetables in containers, look for varieties with words like bush, baby, dwarf, tiny, midget, and patio in their names. They are bred to be compact.
A potted salad garden
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
Before heading to the nursery, study the area you’ve picked for your container garden―is it sunny? shady?―and then find plants that will flourish in those conditions.
Several outdoor plants on stairs
Credit: Richard Felber
Terra-cotta pots are ideal for container plants because their porous walls let air and water move easily through, so roots grow healthily.
A potted cutting garden
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
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An assortment of herbs can be planted in one pot, so long as their care requirements are compatible.
A potted herb garden
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
Potted plants flanking an entry door are warm and welcoming.
Yellow front door
Credit: Aimee Herring
Place a large pot in the center of a display, accented with smaller pots for balance.
Plants in blue pots
Credit: Richard Felber
Create a “centerpiece” for your porch by grouping varieties of the same species planted in similar pots.
Plants in yellow pots
Credit: Richard Felber
Matching pots planted with ornamental grass lend drama to a driveway or path.
Outdoor plants in white pots
Credit: Richard Felber
Use potted plants to define an outdoor space: Here, they separate patio from lawn.
Outdoor plants
Credit: Richard Felber
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Ceramic pots are porous, allowing roots to breathe, and a glazed finish helps conserve moisture.
Glazed ceramic planters
Credit: Mark Lund
Mounted plants cheer up a bare wall. Hang an even number for a formal look, an odd number for a more relaxed feel.
Plants hanging outside house
Credit: Richard Felber
For an especially easy hanging garden, try mini petunias: They never need deadheading, and they thrive in sun or a mix of sun and shade.
Hanging plant
Credit: Richard Felber
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An old birdbath makes a perfect new home for shallow-rooted succulents.
Plants displayed in a birdbath
Credit: Beatriz Da Costa
Create an oasis in your yard by arranging potted plants into a sheltering screen.
Outdoor plants
Credit: Minh & Wass
When potting ivy, make sure the containers have enough depth to allow for proper drainage.
Cast iron planters
Credit: Mark Lund
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During the winter, you can force bulbs to bloom indoors (like the Christmas Pearl grape hyacinths shown here), then replant outside come spring.
Green plant on the floor.
Credit: Ellen Silverman
Pungently fragrant paperwhite narcissus are easy to coax into bloom indoors. Use tall containers with no drainage holes.
Lilies in bloom
Credit: Ellen Silverman
A terrarium―which lets greens live in a self-sufficient environment―is a no-fuss way to garden.
Multiple plants in a terrarium
Credit: Lisa Hubbard
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A humidity-loving tropical houseplant, such as a maidenhair fern or a flame violet, will thrive in a bell-jar terrarium.
Plant in a terrarium
Credit: Lisa Hubbard
Planted in a ceramic pitcher (drilled to add drainage holes), purple shamrock makes the tiniest indoor container garden.
Red clover in a pot
Credit: Ellen Silverman
A tangle of roots exposed in a glass cylinder can be just as eye-catching as the leaves above.
Tiarella jeepers
Credit: Wendell T. Webber
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Always empty saucers after you water plants: Letting pots sit in water can damage roots.
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo